A change of pace for the lead drawing today. Last week while at Trailside Museum I had photographed one of the two Doe's they have on exhibit. This week I drew from one of the photographs, a close up of a head. Had to do a few restarts and erasures to get the overall shape right but I rather like the end results. She does look sweet doesn't she? Too bad the deer are so destructive to the forests. In winter they will strip bark from larger trees and eat smaller saplings. Not good for the long term health of the forest.
When was the last time you watched Bambi? If you get the change to watch it pay attention to the way the animals move. The Disney animators studied live animals to use as reference, and in the winter scene you can see Bambi's mother stripping bark from a tree. The animated animals may talk, but they also move and behave mostly like real animals.
OK, so far I have 3 sketches as possibles to use as the center of my stipple border piece. Looking for input here, which one do you the viewer like the best, number 1 my starting design, number 2, my first modified design or number 3 my last modification done after showing the first two to the group at the Live Model session on Monday.
Thank heaven's for Photoshop, at least I didn't actually have to redraw everything, though I could have used tracing paper and done almost the same thing. I should also thank all of the Instructors at Massasoit who trained me to use preliminary drawings to check my compositions. I think that is probably one of most important aspects of formal instruction and probably the least appreciated by the students. The kids hate doing preliminary drawings, but truth be told the initial design impulse isn't usually the best so they are critical to the evolution of a mature artist.
Below is my Nature Journal spread from Monday's visit to Daniel Webster.
Back to my bird drawing for this page. Top drawing is a Gold Finch at one of the sanctuary feeders. I have been seeing the finches off and on all winter either at the feeders or even out in the woods, but they have been a very pale yellow. The one Monday was a bit brighter but still not in full summer breeding plumage. The black bars on the wings are the give away.
Bottom drawing is another Canada Goose. The geese were back in droves on Monday, feeding in the fields and drinking water from the open ponds. This one was coming in for a landing but at the same time honking at its friends. I just liked the lines and shape in my photograph so used it as my second image in the pages.
Photographs today are more birds, above a trio of Canada Geese. I was using the new lens, so wasn't too close to the birds. I like how the 3 birds create a visual triangle. Image is only slightly cropped to remove some houses from the top of the photo.
I am not quite sure what this pole with cross bar is for/from. The crows love to perch on it, and Monday I made several photographs of this one crow. This is my favorite out of the group.
That is it for today, per usual comments are always appreciated. Let me know which design you prefer, course the end drawing will be ultimately my choice but I am open to input.
Love your drawing of the deer, so cute!...no I have never watched Bambi... as soon as I heard it was sad, I refused to watch it, there would never have been enough kleenex!
ReplyDeleteWell the movie isn't that long, and really the ending is happy, if a bit sappy so I doubt you would really go through that much Kleenex. The death of Bambi's mother takes place off screen, which I think in a way makes it more upsetting. But really the artists who worked on the movie did beautiful work, and I think it worth watching for that alone.
ReplyDeleteLove your deer. I haven't seen Bambi in a while, perhaps i will drag it out.
ReplyDeleteOn the voting front, I like #3, the way the birds are spaced, and like the branch the lower bird is on better than in #2
Connie Thanks. As for Bambi, it is a rather silly story, but some parts are funny, the music/songs are getting a bit dated, but the animation is brilliant so much better than most of the modern stuff even the computer animated movies. I think I am inclined to do 3 also, just waiting to hear from my sister, before I finally decide.
ReplyDelete